This Sunday’s May 5th, and those of you partaking in a fiesta are in good company…if we do say so ourselves. That day marks seven years since Blake launched this One for One company in a scrappy little home in Venice, California.

That’s right: TOMS turns 7 this Sunday, and in the midst of our celebration for the movement that’s kind of our baby, we’re realizing that we’ve come a loooong way since the early days.

Since the saying goes, ‘we live in the house we all build,’ we thought it’d be pretty neat to track the growth of the TOMS family through the lens of the humble abodes we’ve called home throughout the years.

We started out as a small-but-mighty team in a Venice loft we called an office. Starting to outgrow the space, we deemed a storage unit our warehouse/shipping facility, and convinced the postman to do pick-ups from the unit.

In time, we hired those interns, collected some new friends and ‘colleagues’ and moved on over to our first real HQ in Santa Monica. That HQ was a warehouse that took new shape, color, personality as our movement, company and culture did. While we were there, it felt like the perfect home, scrap wood, makeshift desks, et all.

And then in 2010 we realized the day would soon be upon us when we’d have outgrown that TOMS-ified space, and that we’d have to leave the minivan-backseats-turned-couches behind to find a new HQ. Fast forward to February 2011, and on we went, to our current home, with actual conference rooms, real wallpaper, and wood-planked desk separators that kind of match!

That’s where we’re at now, as we celebrate our seventh year in this biz, and pause our annual bocce ball tournament to appreciate the journey. From this HQ, the last one, and the loft before that…plus any that may house is in the years to come, we’ll always know that you helped us get here, build these homes, and to give the movement a place to root. Thank you for being part of the last seven years; in lots of ways, this is your birthday, too!

One Day Without Shoes is about more than just kicking off our shoes for the day and walking around the block to raise awareness for children’s health and education issues around the world.

It’s an opportunity for us to spark conversation and teach others about the barriers children in developing countries face daily, preventing them from attending school or living healthy lives as they grow. It’s an opportunity for the TOMS community to act as advocates in their greater communities around the world.

We ask that you learn these facts and share them. Share them in conversation, on your T-shirts and in your social networks on the days leading up to and on One Day Without Shoes. By igniting the conversation, you’re not only supporting the global movement, but also our Giving Partners in helping to find sustainable solutions that will help break the cycle of poverty.